israel marks memorial day as intense fighting takes place in gaza's north and south. protesters return to georgia's capital, demanding the government scrap a law that they worry will silence dissent. and the remainder of the collapsed francis scott key bridge is demolished in baltimore. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. after months of static frontlines in the war in ukraine, it appears that russian troops are advancing. over the weekend, their forces opened up a new front near kharkiv in the north—east, pushing closer towards ukraine's second largest city as they captured a number of small villages. nearly 6000 people have fled the region amid heavy fighting. as ukrainian troops push back, the white house says it's working with allies to get more patriot defence systems into the country. from kyiv, our ukraine

correspondent james waterhouse has the latest. shouting. these communities are used to russia being close, but not this close. forfour days, bombs have rained down here, and the window to leave is shrinking. thousands have been forced to escape, and counting. "keep talking to us," says this police officer to 71—year—old 0lga. she was injured in an explosion and their car is now an ambulance. they meet paramedics. we're told she's in a serious condition. translation: vovchans'k - is being mercilessly destroyed, blown up by rocket propelled grenades, artillery, mortars, and small arms battles are going on on the northern outskirts of the city.

the newly homeless end up here in ukraine's second city, kharkiv. people are terrified. they are stressed. they take... they keep their animals with them. so everyone is in a huge stress because of the constant shelling and of the shock of the russian offensive. volodymyr said he went to feed his animals when he encountered machine gunfire in all directions. for now, kharkiv city is a place of relative safety. but for how long? while few think the russians are capable of taking it, they could soon be in artillery range. translation: our task is crystal clear. - to stop russia's attempt to expand the war. the fulfilment of this task depends on everyone who is on the ground. missiles routinely hit kharkiv. if this offensive isn't contained, the destruction will be even greater.

ukraine is struggling to hold what is a new front line. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. in gaza, civilians are fleeing fighting on two fronts — in the south near rafah, and in the north nearjabalia. the israeli military says it's targeting a resurgence of hamas in its northern staging ground. in rafah, the un says that since israel began its operation there a week ago, 360,000 people have fled. white house national security adviser jake sullivan said the us is still working with israel to avoid a major military operation in rafah. have a listen. we still believe it would be a mistake to launch a major military operation into the heart of rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk without a clear strategic gain. the president was clear that he would not supply certain offensive weapons for such an operation, were it to occur.

it has not yet occurred and we're still working with israel on a better way to the defeat of hamas everywhere in gaza, including in rafah. israel marked its memorial day on monday, remembering those who've died in the conflict and those who died in the 7 october hamas attacks. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson was at a tribute. it wasn't just the past they were remembering today. in israel's military cemetery, a new generation grieved for their comrades, their children. fresh graves in a sea of memorials from israel's previous wars, the empty plots beside them shadowed by future losses from this war. siren blares at 11:00, the morning siren of remembrance. tongues fell silent. their faces spoke instead.

israel's prime minister, faced with the human cost of a war he's determined to continue. translation: our war of - independence is still not over. it is still being fought today. it's us or them, israel or the monsters of hamas. we are determined to win. but divisions over this war, largely buried today beneath the national mourning, haven't gone away. i don't know how we will look back on this in, let's say, 20 years. you know, and i hope this was a last phase, the last terrible phase, and something that will end up good. but at what cost? buried in the grave of tank commander daniel perez, his bloodied uniform — retrieved from the gaza border after the 7th of october attacks, his body still held by hamas in gaza.

for his sister, shira, a reminder of his other identity — a football scarf for the liverpool fan. this is not about this political issue. this is about the very existence of israel. this was one of those "to be or not to be" moments, so nobody wants to sacrifice anybody. but it's the price that we have to, as a nation, be prepared to defend our right to be. there are words for a camera and words for a brother that only his gravestone will hear. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. as the war rages on, there's growing pressure on the biden administration over its approach to the war. in a cbs news poll released in april, approval of the president's handling of the war was at 33% — down 11 points from when the war began. that discontent is having a direct impact on the president's bid for

re—election, while his rival, former president trump, appears to be picking up steam. the poll, from the new york times, philadelphia inquirer and siena college, shows donald trump leading joe biden in five of six battleground states. president biden leads in wisconsin byjust two percentage points. while mr trump leads in the states of pennsylvania, arizona, michigan, georgia and nevada. in the latter two, mr trump is ahead by 10 and i2 percentage points respectively. president biden�*s appeal among young voters in particular is dwindling. he is almost tied with mr trump. it's a group democrats have carried by at least 18 points in every election since 200a. joining me now to discuss is wa'el alzayat, ceo of emgage, a national civic engagement organisation for muslim americans. wa'el also held senior policy roles at the state department. very good to have you back on bbc news. i want to talk about this impact and president biden struggling with young voters

and very much so with arab—american voters, muslims in the us as well. how deep is the frustration in the community?- the frustration in the communi ? ,, ., , the frustration in the communi ? ,, ., community? seven months and counting. _ community? seven months and counting. the — community? seven months and counting, the frustration - community? seven months and counting, the frustration is - counting, the frustration is very deep. the community is horrified particularly by what we see unfolding in rafah. it is beyond the arab animism electric, this is a national sentiment, the majority of us voters shows, certainly within democratic affiliations and even slight majority among republicans believe there should be a ceasefire and in fact at least on the democratic side the majority of respondents believe that there absolutely should be conditions on the weapons going to israel, that are being used to commit violations of international law. ., , violations of international law. . , . , ., law. certainly reflected some ofthe law. certainly reflected some of the polling _ law. certainly reflected some of the polling we _ law. certainly reflected some of the polling we just - of the polling we just mentioned. the biden

administration has changed its tone on the war in recent weeks, we saw president biden threaten to suspend offensive weapons to israel for what you go through with an operation in rafah. how do you think that has changed how some people see the us position, people have been frustrated. i the us position, people have been frustrated.— been frustrated. i think it is a necessary _ been frustrated. i think it is a necessary first _ been frustrated. i think it is a necessary first step - been frustrated. i think it is a necessary first step that l been frustrated. i think it is l a necessary first step that the entire war movement has been calling for now for many months, and people want to believe this is the beginning of the road to accountability. the netanyahu government. even the suspension as well iv single shipment of arms was followed by a release of a report by antony blinken where the us administration balked at the us administration balked at the determination that the israeli government and its military have been in violation of us domestic and international humanitarian law. had an to send a clear signal

with his foot holding of the single shipment and i am afraid they backtracked. seam; single shipment and i am afraid they backtracked.— they backtracked. any goodwill there was missed. _ they backtracked. any goodwill there was missed. i _ they backtracked. any goodwill there was missed. i want - they backtracked. any goodwill there was missed. i want to . they backtracked. any goodwill| there was missed. i want to ask you about that report because you about that report because you did previously worked at the state department. why do you think this report appeared to come down on both sides without reaching a conclusion? i think the ministration is looking at this as a political policy problem and now this is a legal problem. you have evidence that israel has committed war crimes with us weapons, targeting civilian infrastructure, targeting civilians themselves, eight organisations with us made bombs. the us lies clear on the misuse of us weapons by third parties and there are laws on the books, say nothing of international law. therefore the administration is trying to perhaps maintain its access relationships, influence, whatever may be left of that

with the netanyahu government while dancing around the very clear legal question. everyone who was notjust reading the reports, just seeing what is happening, there is a contradiction. they have to make a decision, they can no longer play both ways. we know at least early — longer play both ways. we know at least early on _ longer play both ways. we know at least early on in _ longer play both ways. we know at least early on in the - at least early on in the conflict you were part of some of the community who met with president biden and spoke with white house officials. now more than seven months in, what message do you need to hear from president biden and his administration?— from president biden and his administration? there has been, as ou administration? there has been, as you measure, _ administration? there has been, as you measure, a _ administration? there has been, as you measure, a change - administration? there has been, as you measure, a change in - as you measure, a change in tone. the president himself told the israeli prime minister several weeks ago he was to see a ceasefire soon. he said himself that he believes the israelis are using it us weapons, in his acclamation of why he would want to withhold offensive weapons. what is to

happen now is action, equally determination that israelis are violating international law. the us domestic law. the certain offensive weapons that are being used in rafah and elsewhere, the heavy bombs and other munition is to be suspended indefinitely. there needs to be more political pressure by the administration both bilateral and other you when removing the threat of veto to ensure that the israelis bring this operation to a halt my certainly in rafah and elsewhere and allow more credibly way more humanitarian assistance. we credibly way more humanitarian assistance-— assistance. we believe the there for — assistance. we believe the there for today _ assistance. we believe the there for today but - assistance. we believe the there for today but you - assistance. we believe the there for today but you so | assistance. we believe the - there for today but you so much forjoining us tonight. pro—europe demonstrators are on the streets of tbilisi georgia again, ahead of the government's plans to adopt a new bill that's seen by many as a crackdown on civil society in the ex—soviet country. the legislation would force ngos and media to register as foreign agents if more than 20% of their funding comes from overseas.

the government says the bill would increase transparency and defend georgia's sovereignty. demonstrators say georgia will see the same clampdown on media as in russia, where similar legislation is already in place. earlier i spoke to batu kutelia, former georgian ambassador to the usa and former head of georgia's foreign intelligence service. you have been at protests that are stretching into tuesday morning in georgia. tell us what you have seen. these protests have been one of the biggest protests that georgia has seen since regaining its independence, and one of the biggest of this protest, and the optics of it is we see in a big number people, protesting and they are protesting for the country. also we have all seen is the

weakness felt ourselves as the enormous brutality and violence from the government. it seems it is a deliberate measure to scare people and not to allow them to protest again or express their constitutional guaranteed rights of free speech. guaranteed rights of free seech. ., , speech. the governing party sa s this speech. the governing party says this legislation - speech. the governing party says this legislation it - speech. the governing party says this legislation it would increase transparency and ensure that georgia does not get pulled into a conflict with russia. what is your response to that? , ., ., , russia. what is your response tothat? , ., ., , ., to that? first of all this law has nothing _ to that? first of all this law has nothing to _ to that? first of all this law has nothing to do _ to that? first of all this law has nothing to do with - has nothing to do with transparency. this law is discriminatory. it identifies those organisations, civil society and media outlets as foreign agents, exactly in the same way as russia did. we can also see that the purpose of this law is to punish them.

coming up: he used to be donald trump's lawyer and close confidante. michael cohen takes the stand in the former president's criminal trial. we'll have all the details. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at another story making headlines. an inquiry looking at why some women have traumatic experiences in childbirth, has called for a major overhaul of maternity and post—natal care in the uk. the report, led by a group of mps, refers to "harrowing evidence" given by more than 1,000 women. it said poor maternity care was all—too—frequently tolerated as normal — and women giving birth were often treated as an inconvenience. michael buchanan has more. among the themes the enquiry identified — a failure to listen, when a woman says something was wrong. a lack of informed consent — medics not properly explaining specific procedures. and a lack of pain relief, with women in acute pain being given just paracetamol. it does seem to be a maternity lottery in this country.

when looking for patterns it was clear it was not as individual trust, it was certain parts of the uk, but actually a national challenge. the inquiry wants the government to invest in more midwives and to appoint a maternity commissioner — someone directly responsible for improving care across the nhs. you're live with bbc news. donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen took the witness stand monday in mr trump's new york criminal trial about the hush money payment made to adult film actress, stormy daniels. cohen told the court that the former president signed off on everything and that the payment was made at trump's direction. the prosecution also showed phone records between cohen and trump from the day a non—disclosure agreement with stormy daniels was finalised. 0ur north america correspondent nada tawfik was at the trial in new york and sent this summary of the day's events. michael cohen's testimony is crucial to this case. prosecutors hope that the conversations that michael cohen shared between him and donald trump directly tie his former boss to the hush money payments and

to the allegations that trump falsified business records. michael cohen testified that everything was done with mr trump's sign—off. he said that before donald trump even ran for president, he warned michael cohen to be prepared for negative stories, that a lot of women would come forward. when they eventually did, michael cohen says the stormy daniels story was one he feared could be catastrophic for donald trump's campaign and that his former boss was fuming, saying it would be a total disaster, that some women would hate him for it. michael cohen said that donald trump ordered him to "just do it", to make the payment to stormy daniels, the $130,000 payment that is at the centre of this case. michael cohen says that he ultimately fronted the money because "nobody else would". he tried to come up with a creative way to make sure it could not be traced back to donald trump, opening up

a front company, a shell company to do that. he says before he wired the money to stormy daniels' lawyer, he called donald trump twice — again to get his sign—off and to ensure he would be paid off and the court was shown those phone records. michael cohen then eventually spoke about what is really at issue here — the 3a counts of falsifying business records. michael cohen says that donald trump was present and knew that alan weisselberg, the cfo of the trump 0rganization, said that he would be reimbursed in monthly instalments and that they would be labelled as �*legal expenses' in business documents and that michael cohen would be known as trump's personal lawyer. michael cohen directly tying donald trump to that knowledge that the reimbursement for the $130,000 payment would be marked in the trump 0rganization books as legal retainer fees. michael cohen will be back on the stand

tomorrow and no doubt the defence will try to paint him as a liar and someone who has a vengeance against donald trump. to discuss today's developments, i spoke to molly ball, senior political correspondent for the wall streetjournal and marcus childress, partner atjenner & block and the former investigative counsel to the house select committee on the 6 january attack. this was the main witness for the prosecution. what impact do you think the testimony today had? michael cohen today provided direct evidence of the former president, his knowledge of the hush money payments on october 2016 but otherwise he corroborated what we have already heard throughout the majority of the trail. michael cohen told the story of the initial meeting between david pecker, donald trump and michael cohen, to do this catch—and—kill scheme. he took the jury to the timeline, the october 2016 time frame when stormy daniels was paid off.

what was key for him to talk about is what trump was saying at key events, whether paying the doorman who had a story, and eventually paying stormy daniels. before we had testimony of what michael cohen told others but today provided what donald trump was telling him when he was making these acts. remind us why michael cohen is so important. he was a close confidant of donald trump? he was by his side long before he ever ran for president. reporters like myself remember dealing with him and he was notoriously a bulldog in fighting for trump going after anyone who he suspected of getting in trump's way or siding trump. and that came through in his testimony as well, something that he talked about a lot, how close they were, how zealously he guarded mr trump's prerogatives and the work he did as an all—purpose fixer, not primarily a litigator

in the sense of a lawyer but an all— purpose fixer, making things happen for trump wherever he needed them to, whether in business or his personal affairs. interesting how we talked about a great time he had previously working for donald trump. we heard from our correspondent as well that the difference will take a very hard line on michael cohen, to paint him as a liar. tell us more about the strategy and if you think it will be effective? the defence is crossing buckets, a bucket of trying to portray michael cohen as a liar with a history of not necessarily being truthful in response to authorities and a second bucket they will attack is donald trump's actual knowledge of what michael cohen was doing. starting with the first bucket, michael cohen has an open record of not being truthful with prior investigations or truthful about what he was doing on behalf of donald trump to the media. the defence will try to see if you have interfered in the past, how to we know

you are truthful today. the second bucket, they will try to show that michael cohen was going rogue, trying to impress the boss, not necessarily doing it because of orders from donald trump. we have seen some evidence of that in the defence crossing other witnesses about going rogue, and they said yes. we will see more of that type of theme, lying in court this week allegedly, and also cohen when trying to impress the boss are going rogue with his actions. a big picture, where do you think the trial stands right now as we have heard witness testimony? where are things? it is a black box. we cannot know what is on the jury's mind, what they think is a process all of this. the prosecution seems to feel things are going smoothly. one important feature of michael cohen's testimony was he kept his cool, he was even, he was able to explain things in a very forward way, something that i think we will see

when the defence starts examining him as they will try to get under his skin because he is known as someone who has a temper who flies off the handle, and that is something the prosecution is concerned about. 0n the trump site, they feel it has gone well for them particularly in the court of public opinion. trump has came out and seek to discredit the prosecution in his public statements every day as he goes into and out of the trial and his personal social network. the realjury that trump is concerned about is not so much the one in the room as the one on 5 november, and there is a feeling on his political campaign side that he is succeeding in that court. crews in baltimore, maryland, used explosives to help free a cargo ship trapped under a collapsed bridge. explosion. crews have been working to clear the wreckage, and reopening shipping channels. the ship struck the francis scott key bridge on march 26 causing it to collapse, killing six people. the vessel's 21 crewmembers remained on board

during the detonation. rebuilding is expected to be completed in 2028. let's turn to some other important news around the world. rescue efforts are under way for people missing from deadly flash floods and mudslides in indonesia's west sumatra province. the weekend torrential rain is blamed for the deaths of 50 people. it triggered a cold lava flow, which is a mixture of volcanic ash, rock debris and water, from came from mount merapi, one of sumatra's most active volcanoes. at least 12 people are known to have died after a massive billboard fell onto a petrol station during high winds in mumbai. 60 others were injured. rescue teams are still combing the wreckage for survivors. mumbai was hit by a fierce dust and rain storm on monday, which darkened the sky and led to power outages. firefighters on monday battled a large wildfire heading towards a remote western canadian town as winds and dry conditions threatened to spread the flames further. the largely evacuated town of fort nelson in british columbia is in the line of one of the season's first major wildfires that have

spread to over 211,000 acres across western canada. human rights campaigners have expressed concern for an independentjournalist in china who made a name for herself covering the first covid—19 outbreak in wuhan. zhang zhan was due to be freed from prison on monday after serving a four—year sentence but there has been no confirmation of her release. zhang zhan was found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". before we go, one dog finally had her day, and made history as well. nimble, a six—year—old dog from maryland, became the first �*mixed breed' canine to win the westminster kennel club's agility championship. she zipped through an obstacle course in 28.76 seconds beforejumping into the arms of her owner. thank you for watching bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather looks decidedly

mixed over the next few days, just as it was on monday. for some of us, there was a little bit of sunshine and some warmth — 2a celsius, or at least very close to it, in parts of northern scotland. compare that with 1a celsius in south west england, with cloud, with outbreaks of rain — all in association with this area of low pressure and this slow—moving frontal system. now, this weather front is now slowly on the move, northwards and eastwards. you can follow that weather front here for tuesday morning — that's where we'll see outbreaks of rain across parts of eastern england for a time across the midlands, certainly some rain across northern england, southern and central scotland. rain tending to pull away from northern ireland, and for wales in the south—west, it's a mix of sunny spells and heavy showers. northern scotland should see some dry and bright weather. we could well see the highest of the temperatures here, around 21 celsius more generally, 16—20. and then, through tuesday night, here's our weather front continuing its very slowjourney northwards and eastwards. much of the rain, though,

i think fizzling out. it'll be a bit misty and murky in places as we start wednesday morning, temperatures generally between 9—12 celsius. our weather front still in play, still a band of clouds, some splashes of rain — we may see some heavier rain pushing back in across some eastern and northern parts of england. elsewhere, some spells of sunshine, a scattering of showers — we could possibly see the odd heavy thundery shower breaking out in the northwest of scotland. temperatures in northern scotland likely to touch 22—23 celsius, but in sunny spots elsewhere, we will be in the high teens or the low—20s. for thursday, still the remnants of that weather front providing cloud and a focus for some showers. but we will see some showers breaking out quite widely on thursday, some heavy, thundery ones in places. but again, in the sunshine, temperatures getting into the low 20s celsius — not bad at all for the time of year. now, as we head into the end of the week and the weekend, this area of low pressure tending to weaken, the centre of the low tending to be to the south of the uk. so spots further north actually

may escape most of the showers and see a decent amount of dry weather. temperatures could still get into the 20s celsius for some. more showers further south, some of those heavy and thundery, but still with some spells of warm sunshine in between.

i'm in the presidential palace in buenos aires to interview the new president, javier milei. javier milei went viral during his campaign around the world for campaigning with a chainsaw, which was his symbol for his desire to slash the state and slash public spending. after years of high public spending, high debt, high inflation, he has slashed the value of the currency, slashed subsidies, slashed government departments. he says this radical programme of austerity is needed to fix the economy, but lots of people in argentina are struggling, and he's said that things will need to get worse before they get better. he's called himself a libertarian and a narcho—capitalist. he hates the state, he loves elon musk. he's a big fan of the rolling stones. some of his fans and critics alike have described him as "crazy". but who is the real javier milei?